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Winter in the trenches

On Christmas Day, along several sections of the Front, German and British men ventured cautiously yet peacefully into “No Man’s Land”

Patrick Wingrove

December 23 2014, 7:01pm, The Times

Uniforms covered in mud, troops returned from the trenches, winter 1914

As the fighting in the First Battle of Ypres was coming to a close in November 1914, the frosty chill of winter was beginning to take hold on the Western Front. It was to be a bitter season for many soldiers, as trenches provided little shelter or warmth from the unusually low temperatures. Trenches also accumulated vast amounts of water from rainfall, and this soon turned into squalid muddy baths beneath the soldiers´ feet. The muddy conditions along the Western Front ultimately led to numerous cases of “trench foot”, an ailment characterised by blisters, open sores and fungal infections. Many of these cases resulted in an infection of gangrene and the afflicted soldier would have to undergo amputation to rid himself of it.

The winter…

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